Continental Energy Corporation (the “Company”) an emerging international energy investment company, announced that its affiliate, VTT Maritime AS (“VTT”), has been awarded a contract valued at US$ 10.3 million by the Norwegian Road Authority (“NorRoad”) for a portion of NorRoad’s planned highway E39 improvement project.
Under the contract, VTT will provide sea mapping, seismic surveying and measurement wire drilling at the site of a major subsea tunnel location.
The existing highway E39 is part of the European trunk road system and extends for 1,100 kilometers along the western coast of Norway. The E39 connects the northern city of Trondheim and several coastal cities including Stavanger to the city of Kristiansand in the south. The rugged terrain currently requires drivers to negotiate ferry crossings at eight deep fjords which results in a total transit time of 21 hours between Trondheim and Kristiansand. NorRoad’s planned improvement program is intended to eliminate all eight ferry crossings by installing bridges and subsea tunnels reducing the transit time to 13 hours.
Rogfast is the name given to the tunnel section to be bored under two fjords, the Boknaford and the Kvitsoford, in the county of Rogaland, located north of the city of Stavanger and south of the city of Haugesund. When completed, the “Rogfast Tunnel” will be the world’s longest and deepest subsea tunnel open to road traffic. It will extend a total length of 25.5 kilometers and at its deepest point will reach 385 meters beneath the sea level. The Rogfast Tunnel is budgeted at US$ 2.15 Billion and is expected to be completed by 2023.
Press Release, January 14, 2014; Image: NorRoad